THE IJAW MAN WHO GAVE THE NAME “BIAFRA” — THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF FRANK OPIGO

This is the man who suggested the name “Biafra” to the Eastern Consultative Assembly in 1967, when the Eastern Region prepared to secede from Nigeria.
His name is Frank Opigo, an Ijaw man from present-day Bayelsa State.

Many people today do not know that the word Biafra was not coined by the Igbo, nor was it created by Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. The name was actually proposed by Opigo, then deliberated upon by the Eastern Consultative Assembly, and eventually adopted for the new republic.

THE MEANING BEHIND THE NAME

Historically, the “Bight of Biafra” is the same as the Bight of Bonny — a bight off the west-central African coast, located in the easternmost part of the Gulf of Guinea.
The Portuguese used this term centuries ago to describe the riverine regions of what is today southern Nigeria.

This means the name Biafra has a Portuguese etymology, not an Igbo one.

EASTERN REGION BEFORE THE WAR

Before the creation of states, Nigeria was divided into regions:

• Western Region
• Eastern Region
• Northern Region
• Mid-Western Region

The old Eastern Region included the areas that are now Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, and all the South-East states. The Ijaw, Ibibio, Efik, Igbo, and other ethnic groups all belonged to the same region.

So when Ojukwu led the Eastern Region out of Nigeria, an Ijaw man—Frank Opigo—suggested the name “Biafra,” and it was accepted after due deliberation.

A BRIEF BUT IMPORTANT HISTORY

The name Biafra was never intended to represent only the Igbo. It was a name that historically described the entire coastal and inland stretch of the Eastern Region — a multicultural region made up of many ethnic groups.

Frank Opigo’s contribution is a significant but often overlooked part of Nigerian history.